Whenever
a priest celebrates Holy Mass/the Divine Liturgy, the entire Heavenly Court:
the Holy Trinity, Our Blessed Mother, all the Angels, Saints, Martyrs, all the
blessed who dwell therein, are present, surrounding the altar, filling the
church, no matter how grand or small the edifice, with all the radiant love,
joy, light which flows upon us, and, if we open wide the doors of our being,
permeates us!
Psalm
149.9 proclaims the truth that: the Lord delights in His people, that’s
each one of us first individually, for are all His children, and then
communally as one human family. Through Baptism we become members of the body
of Christ, and this too is both an individual and communal reality, as St. Paul
teaches about the body of Christ: If one part suffers, all the parts suffer
with it; if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy. [1Cor.12:26]
Blaise
Pascal in his Pensées, a series of reflections on faith and life, urges us: “In
difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart.”
The
greatest beauty we can carry in our hearts is Christ Himself, who with the
Father and the Holy Spirit delights in dwelling within us and if we strive to
be true disciples of Christ then it is the beauty of the Holy Trinity which
will radiate from our hearts upon all our brothers and sisters, for indeed
these are the very difficult times when beauty is needed, a beauty which gives
hope.
It is
when we open our hearts also to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit within
that, we who have been created as delight of God, therefore for happiness, the
real happiness which is gift, not the ersatz happiness of mere pleasure,
experience the Holy Spirit’s gift of joy, which is also to experience the true
freedom of the children of God.
Therein
that freedom is experienced also the consolation of hope.
The
freedom of the children of God is living in but not of the world, living not
bent towards ourselves but walking open hearted, towards others in imitation of
Christ, protected, comforted, interceded for and loved by those who have gone
before us and now dwell in the eternal happiness, beauty, joy, that is the
eternal communion of love with the Most Holy Trinity who delights in us.
Every
time we pray-proclaim the Apostles’ Creed we profess belief in the Communion of
Saints.
Communion
with the saints: "It is not merely by the title of example that we
cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to
the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit
may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims
brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to
Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace, and the life
of the People of God itself" [1]
Sometimes
by ancient tradition, sometimes by designation at the time of their
canonization, those in the heavenly kingdom, who have traveled the road of
life, been pilgrims of the Absolute before us, are known as the patron saints
of a particular country, city, town, village, parish, among these would be St.
Kateri Tekakwitha, Protectress of Canada, while others are patrons of various
professions such as St. Joseph patron of carpenters, others, like St. Jude,
intercessor for ‘impossible situations’, are called upon for various needs.
While
it is wonderful all the gestures of gratitude to the doctors, nurses and others
caring for us, protecting us, assuring there is food, etc., it also is a time
to call upon those Saints who are patrons both for those who care for us, and
indeed for those sickened, physically or mentally, by the virus or the impact
of isolation.
When
this link appears: https://catholicsaints.info/
scrolling to ‘saints in the medical field’ shows not only the patron
saints of doctors, such as St. Luke, and nurses but also those of, for example
EMTs, or police officers for whom St. Michael the Archangel is one of the
patrons.
Jesus’
promise not to leave us orphans, Jn.14:18, encompasses the Communion of Saints,
whose Queen is our Blessed Mother, whom Jesus gave to us when St. John at the
foot of the Cross stood in his own person and as representative of each one of us:
Jn. 19:26,27.
Besides
the intercession, love, protection of the Saints, closeness to them, for they
all struggled, suffered, fell, sinned, confessed, began again, should deepen
our hope, enhance our joy, strengthen our faith.
Unfortunately
the best link I have found for Saints in a time of plague, which this pandemic
is, has bothersome ads, ads on internet
sites being another form of plague, it is worth checking out: https://aleteia.org/2020/03/12/these-saints-know-firsthand-about-surviving-pandemics/
Yep,
time to turn again to St. Monica, the patron saint of those in need of
patience!
[1]
para. 956 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM
© 2020
Fr. Arthur Joseph
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